A Poem, A Proverb, A Painting, A Prayer: A Lenten Devotional-- Day 3: Friday after Ash Wednesday

A Poem, A Proverb, A Painting, A Prayer: A Lenten Journey
Day 3: Friday after Ash Wednesday
Today’s Theme: Keeping a Holy Lent


Poem: For Lent, 1966
It is my Lent to break my Lent,
    To eat when I would fast,
To know when slender strength is spent,
    Take shelter from the blast
When I would run with wind and rain,
    To sleep when I would watch.
It is my lint to smile at pain
    But not ignore its touch.

It is my Lent to listen well
    When I would be alone,
To talk when I would rather dwell
    In silence turn from none
Who call on me to try to see
    That what is truly meant
Is not my choice. If Christ's I'd be
    It's thus I'll keep my Lent.
---------- Madeleine L’Engle (1918-2007), poet, novelist, and Episcopalian, from Uncollected Poems


Proverb:
“The Christian does not think that God will love us because we are good, but that God will make us good because he loves us.”
--------- C. S. Lewis, writer, teacher, and convert to Anglicanism


Painting: The Fight Between Carnival and Lent, by Pieter Bruegel the Elder, 1559

 

Prayer:

To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul;
O my God, in you I trust.
You are the God of my salvation,
To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul.
In you I hope all the day long.
O my God, in you I trust.
Remember, Lord, your compassion and love,
for they are from everlasting.
To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul;
O my God, in you I trust.

--------- from the Church of England’s Daily Prayer page